Hi, my name is Rick Tucker. I'm the project manager for an open source privacy and security awareness project called Hacker Highschool (HHS). Don't be alarmed by the name.

HHS is a project for teenagers (12 - 18) who are still in high school or junior high to gain critical thinking skills through lessons on internet-based research, security, and the non-malicious, non-Hollywood, and very positive form of hacking which is a form of technical problem solving. Let me be clear that NO viruses, trojans, or exploits are written or developed in class. What students learn is technology and how it affects them from a security and privacy standpoint within society. We teach them to recognize and protect themselves from asocial monsters, not be them.

We have 12 free lessons covering a range of topics from online research techniques to web/email privacy to ethics and everything in between. Many of the lessons require hands-on experience for students to fully understand the concepts. We provide access to a test lab for these purposes.

If you're interested, please visit www.hackerhighschool.org. You can download all the lessons for free (in mulitiple languages) to review them and see if they're a good fit for your curriculum. You can also sign up for our mailing list to keep you up-to-date on the progress HSS is making. There is also a discussion list for students and parents to ask questions about the lessons.